Trump’s legal woes

Former US president Donald Trump continues to burnish his reputation as the biggest embarrassment ever elected to the country’s top office, becoming the first former president to face federal criminal charges. And unlike the New York State charges he is already facing, these go well beyond dodgy accounting to pay off a sex worker and straight up to violations of the federal Espionage Act. While some Republicans are using this to claim the charges are unfair because Trump was never a spy, the actual violation is mishandling of classified information, most of which Trump illegally took with him to his private club in Florida and stored in public ally accessible areas such as a bathroom and a wine cellar. He also showed the documents to unidentified friends and guests, some of whom may have ties to America’s rivals.

Trump has pleaded not guilty, with several of his proxies claiming he will win based on his lack of knowledge of the relevant law at the time of the alleged violations. But while it is true that Trump does lack knowledge of most laws, facts and even basic human decency, his false attacks on Hillary Clinton, President Joe Biden and others expose that he has long understood the documents clauses of the Espionage Act — the prosecution apparently even has him on tape showing someone classified documents and telling them he should not be doing so.

The most egregious ‘defense’ from Trump allies, however, is that a former president should not be charged with such crimes because it embarrasses the office of the president. While it is true that the holders of top offices should be treated with some respect and not be paraded through court for the pleasure of their political opponents, nobody should be above the law. The US set a terrible precedent when former president Richard Nixon was pardoned by his successor Gerald Ford. Even though the worst crimes Nixon was accused of seem inconsequential compared to Trump’s, maybe if he did face criminal charges, the country would have held every president to a higher standard than a common criminal.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2023.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.